News

A move to veto a plan to temporarily raise NOx emission limits for diesel cars was rejected by MEPs on Wednesday, after the EU Commission promised a review clause and tabled a long-term legislative proposal to revamp the EU car approval regime. ...

The EU Commission should not authorise the recycling of plastics that contain the banned softener diethylhexyl phthalate (DHEP), to make soft PVC items such as footwear and floor coverings, because it poses a reproductive toxicity threat to exposed ...

As of 2016, the European Parliament’s irreducible carbon emissions can be fully offset, making it the first EU institution to become 100% carbon-neutral, Parliament’s Bureau (President, Vice-Presidents and Quaestors), decided some weeks ...

The industry committee set out its demands for a European energy union in a resolution passed on Tuesday. Among them: compliance with the Commission`s recommendation concerning hydraulic fracturing, a voluntary system to collectively purchase ...

The EU and its member states must call for a 40% cut in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and scale up climate finance commitments at the COP21 UN climate talks in Paris, Parliament said on Wednesday. MEPs also say a share of revenues from the EU`s ...

MEPs debated the unfolding Volkswagen exhaust emissions scandal on Tuesday, on the basis of a parliamentary question. They asked Commissioner Elżbieta Bieńkowska to clarify whether emission test manipulation took place in Europe. Many ...

The environment committee on Wednesday adopted an update of EU car emission rules, setting limits on certain pollutants including NOx. They call for a new, real-life, emissions test procedure to be enforced by 2017. They also want fuel consumption ...

In a resolution adopted by 55 votes to 5, with 8 abstentions, the committee also says a share of the EU`s carbon market allowances should be earmarked for climate finance and the aviation and shipping sectors should initiate measures to curb their ...

During a first debate the state of play on Volkswagen`s emission "defeat devices" with the European Commission in the Environment Committee, many MEPs highlighted the need to speed up the introduction of automotive test procedures that better ...

As air pollution is responsible for around 400,000 premature deaths in the EU yearly, Environment MEPs on Wednesday tightened up Commission plans and called for more ambitious national caps on emissions of six main pollutants, such as sulphur ...

The EU needs to use natural resources more efficiently - a 30% increase in resource productivity by 2030 could boost its GDP by nearly 1% and create an extra 2 million sustainable jobs, say MEPs in a resolution voted on Thursday. But to achieve this ...

A reform of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), informally agreed with the Latvian Presidency of the Council, was endorsed by Parliament on Wednesday. The reform is intended to reduce the surplus of carbon credits available for trading in order ...

Binding waste-reduction targets, revamped ecodesign legislation and measures to break the link between growth and the use of natural resources are the chief demands set out in a resolution passed on Wednesday by environment MEPs,who call on the ...

December`s climate change conference in Paris aims to come up with an international agreement to help limit global warming after 2020, but it is far from the first one. MEPs are this week voting on a recommendation to ensure that the Doha climate ...

Draft EU rules requiring ship owners using EU ports to monitor and report CO2 emissions each year received the support of the House on Tuesday. The new rules, already informally agreed with the Council of Ministers, will apply from 2018 on to ships ...

EU countries will be required to reduce the use of the commonest and most polluting plastic bags drastically under new rules voted by Parliament on Tuesday ""This legislation will create a genuine win-win situation"” said Margrete ...

Most people would agree that climate change needs to be tackled, but it is less clear where the money needed to do this should come from. MEPs discussed the issue with their national counterparts on Monday 30 March during a hearing on the climate ...

Up to 200 plastic bags are thrown away every year by the average European, most of them after having been used only once. The tiny particles these bags are made of can enter water or even the food cycle. To reduce these risks, the EU wants to ...

Talks to be held in Lima next month should enable global partners to reach an ambitious climate agreement in Paris in 2015, so as to keep the world on track for a sub-2°C climate warming scenario, Parliament said in a resolution voted on ...